A Crystal Palace (#homebeforedarkcontest)

A Crystal Palace

I sneak into the impossibly tall palace, its walls and towers glistening in the moonlight, its graceful architecture in stark contrast with the sprawling slums beneath its shadow.

Deep within the palace, I find the inner chambers, where the ruler of the land slumbers. But suddenly, a pair of guards grab hold of my limbs. Even though I fight back with everything I have, I'm in the dungeons before the end of the night.

In the morning, my fate is announced: I'm to be hanged for trespassing and attempting to assassinate the ruler. That afternoon, the guards bind my hands and lead me to the gallows in the town square. The aristocracy is there, and the ruler, all for the spectacle and the chance to lord their power over the citizens. The folk of the slums are there, still and silent. They see that I am one of them.

"See this wretched lowlife," booms the ruler's voice as I ascend the steps to the scaffold, "and what comes of sneaking around where you don't belong, where you'll never belong, and threatening the life of your great leader!"

Even as the guards begin to nudge me towards the waiting noose with their halberds, I shout to the ruler, "I did not enter your palace to kill you!" The aristocracy rustle with intrigue. The folk of the slums remain still and silent.

"Guards, proceed to execute this criminal," the ruler orders, as if I had not spoken.

The aristocracy cheers. The folk of the slums remain still and silent.

"I came last night to speak with you!" I desperately continue. "The foundation of your palace is crumbling! If nothing is done about it, your palace will fall, and your land and its people will be crushed beneath it! Cracks already ravage its foundation!"

Sure enough, a sound echoes across the land like the sky itself is cracking. It is a new chasm lancing through the palace's foundation.

For the first time, there is fear on the ruler's face. Everyone has gone still, and silent. They listen.

"You see the state of your land and its people; without their well-being, your crystal palace will forever be on a shaky foundation, doomed to fail at any moment," I continue. "And yet, even as they need your help, you need ours; you cannot fix the foundation by yourself. This is what I wanted to tell you last night, and what I have tried to tell you many times before."

I then address the crowd of aristocracy and folk of the slums. They are still, and silent, and listening.

"We must all help each other, rich and poor, powerful and weak, young and old, to fix the foundation of the palace," I call out to them. "Who is with me?"

Silence.

A guard behind me releases me from my bindings. "I am with you."

As we start towards the shining crystal palace, the crowds gradually, tentatively follow, and finally, so does the ruler.